1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a recording medium, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus, an image processing apparatus, and a recording medium which are capable of correctly extracting an object with easy operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods for extracting objects as materials in a foreground, etc. from images are proposed.
According to a method as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-269369, an object is extracted based on detected results derived from iterating such operations that the contour of the object in one frame is detected and then the contour of the object in another frame is detected by searching for the periphery of the object in the one frame.
Further, there are methods for searching for pixels having pixel values around any desired pixel value and for extracting an area having the pixels as an object, etc.
However, if the contour of the object is detected from a target frame by searching for only the periphery of the object in a frame just before the target frame, there is a problem to make it impossible that when the object is greatly deformed or moved, the contour of the object is erroneously detected with high probability and the object cannot be correctly extracted.
When a user designates the contour of the object every frame and then the object is extracted based on the designated contour, it is troublesome for the user to increase the load of operation.
Further, according to the conventional object extracting method using the pixel value, an apparatus extracts the object based on a predetermined threshold as one parameter and other parameters. Although the object can be preferably extracted from an image having one feature, the object cannot be preferably extracted from an image having other features.
Furthermore, a method for setting variable parameters used in the object extraction is considered. Although, in this case, the object can be preferably extracted from one portion which matches one set parameter, the object cannot be preferably extracted from another portion which does not match the one set parameter. Consequently, the overall of the object cannot be correctly extracted.